My latest reality-TV obsession: Hell's Kitchen. Think "The Apprentice", but with Chefs. It's much more entertaining to watch people compete for money by try to whip up a signature dish instead of an ad campaign.
The latest drama in Hell's Kitchen: a fainting, cramping, and sweating retirement-home chef/contestant was sent to the hospital. I knew he was going home when he had to be dressed by two of the other contestants. One contestant pulled cooked pasta out of a garbage can and attempted to serve it to unsuspecting diners. Her signature dish is now Spaghetti a la Homeless Dumpster Diver. Another dished out stinkingly rancid crab, and was only stopped by Gordon Ramsey, who is the show's equivalent to Donald Trump. He fires a chef or two at the end of every show. In between he curses a lot, smears undercooked food on contestant chefs, and generally terrorizes the lot of them. His cursing has a British flair. I had never heard the epithet "you f*cking donkey!" before watching this show.
In the category of "Gee, what a surprise": the contestant who is a Waffle House cook kicked @$$ preparing breakfast for 100 soldiers and sailors. Is there a time when you can walk into a Waffle House and not see an egg cooking? She's my favorite so far.
